WDI Exploratory Analysis

Liane Muir

2025-02-25

Selection of Indicators

I chose three indicators to analyze from the World Development Indicators (WDI) dataset:

  • Inflation Rate
  • Life Expectancy
  • GDP per Capita

These indicators are respectively considered measures of economic stability, health, and economic prosperity.

Summary Statistics

The distribution of our key economic and health indicators across 217 countries in 2022:

Distribution of key economic and health indicators. This figure shows the distribution of three indicators across countries in 2022. The density curves help elucidate overall trends. Note skews in the distributions.

Summary Statistics Cont.

Summary statistics for our indicator variables:

Mean Standard Deviation Min 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile Max
Inflation Rate (%) 12.4939 19.6824 -6.68732 5.51813 7.96757 11.6656 171.205
Life Expectancy (Years) 72.4165 7.71332 52.997 66.782 73.5146 78.475 85.377
GDP per Capita (USD) 20345.7 31308.9 259.025 2570.56 7587.59 25982.6 240862

The histogram for Inflation Rate had a right-skewed distribution, showing that most countries have inflation rates below 15%. The range of values goes from -6.69% (deflation) to 171.2% (hyperinflation).

Let’s take a closer look at the number of countries in each inflation category.

Exploratory Analysis

As we see in the figure below, the highest number of countries are in the “Elevated Inflation” category:

Figure 1: Bar plot showing the number of countries by inflation category. This figure provides a detailed count of the number of countries within each inflation rate category.

Exploratory Analysis Cont.

So what are the relationships between these indicators? Is there a relationship between GDP per Capita (economic prosperity) and life expectancy (overall population health)? Let’s see.

Figure 2: Scatter plot of GDP per Capita vs Life Expectancy. This figure shows the relationship between GDP per Capita and Life Expectancy across countries, categorized by inflation rates. A log scale is used for GDP per Capita to better visualize the wide range of values. The regression line illustrates the overall trend and relationship between GDP and life expectancy. Data source: World Development Indicators.

Exploratory Analysis Summary

  • Inflation Rates: The distribution is right-skewed, with most countries experiencing moderate to elevated inflation (2–10%). A small subset faces hyperinflation (>50%).
  • Life Expectancy: Most countries cluster around 70–80 years, with a global average of 72.4 years. Higher life expectancy is observed in wealthier nations.
  • GDP per Capita: Strongly right-skewed, indicating economic disparity. A few high-income countries significantly raise the average.

Key Insights:

  • Countries with higher GDP per capita tend to have higher life expectancy (positive correlation).
  • Inflation trends vary widely, with some nations facing extreme economic instability.
  • Economic growth is strongly linked to better health outcomes, aligning with global research.

Thank You!